Why Charter Schools Fail the Test

New York Times by Charles Murray | May. 5, 2010 (Opinion)

The evaluation by the School Choice Demonstration Project, a national research group that matched more than 3,000 students from the choice program and from regular public schools, found that pupils in the choice program generally had “achievement growth rates that are comparable” to similar Milwaukee public-school students. This is just one of several evaluations of school choice programs that have failed to show major improvements in test scores, but ... Full Story »

Posted by Kelly Garrett - via AllTop, New York Times (Opinion), Memeorandum, Real Clear Politics, New York Times (Most Emailed), Opinion Source, Willie Bido (t)

More Info

Tags Help
Subjects: Politics
Member Tags: Charter Schools, education and schools, private and sectarian schools, tests and testing, standards and standardization, children and youth, milwaukee (wis), milwaukee parental choice program, school choice demonstration project, am update, Vouchers
Editorial Help
Posted by: Posted by Kelly Garrett - May 5, 2010 - 12:05 AM PDT
Reviewed by: Kelly Garrett (review), Jon Mitchell (review), Kaizar Campwala (review), Dwight Rousu (review), Sirajul Islam (review), Kristin Gorski (review), James Kemmerer (review), Patricia Blochowiak (review)
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Kelly Garrett - May 5, 2010 - 9:34 AM PDT

Reviews

Show All Comments
Show All | Notes | Comments | Quotes | Links
Dwight Rousu
3.7
 by Dwight Rousu - May. 5, 2010

The study results showing no difference in test results for charter schools should be read by everybody, to immunize them from the non-sense of Obama's education initiatives for charter schools. But where Murray takes the essay to advocate for school choice is not logically or substantially supported.

See Full Review » (12 answers)
Sirajul Islam
3.8
 by Sirajul Islam - May. 15, 2010

Good opinion piece that must spark hectic debate. What I understand, the schooling a student receives depends entirely on the quality of teachers and the quality of leadership in a school. Poor leaders and poor teachers exist everywhere, just as poor bosses and poor employees exist everywhere. An endless debate with little or no conclusion, I think.

See Full Review » (18 answers)
Kristin Gorski
3.8
 by Kristin Gorski - May. 15, 2010

I agree -- evaluation measures have to be changed to effectively assess how well a school and its students are faring. Standardized test scores do not accurately measure school quality.

See Full Review » (19 answers)
Kelly Garrett
3.6
 by Kelly Garrett - May. 5, 2010

Although I think the author has overlooked some important issues in his argument in support of charter schools, I do think the perspective merits consideration.

Kelly posted this story.
See Full Review » (10 answers)
Kaizar Campwala
3.3
 by Kaizar Campwala - May. 5, 2010
See Full Review » (10 answers)
Patricia Blochowiak
2.7
 by Patricia Blochowiak - May. 15, 2010

The facts don't support his point of view, so he says they're irrelevant. How odd. Here in Cleveland, the students in the charter schools come to kindergarten better prepared, but still don't do any better, according to the tests. One can certainly argue for or against standardized tests (I generally support the anti-test arguments!), but you cannot logically use the test results to claim that the tests are irrelevant.

See Full Review » (17 answers)
Jon Mitchell
4.0
 by Jon Mitchell - May. 5, 2010

This is an insightful column that cuts right through the pro-vs-anti-charter school bickering and points at the real obstacle to education reform: bad metrics and simplistic standards.

See Full Review » (12 answers)
James Kemmerer
4.1
 by James Kemmerer - May. 7, 2010
See Full Review » (10 answers)

Comments on this story (1)Help (BETA)

Sort by: Oldest | Newest Hide All Replies
NT Rating | My Rating

Ratings

3.6

Good
from 8 reviews (67% confidence)
Quality
3.6
Facts
3.0
Fairness
3.0
Information
3.9
Insight
3.5
Style
4.0
Accuracy
3.0
Balance
3.0
Context
3.4
Depth
3.0
Enterprise
3.7
Expertise
2.9
Originality
3.9
Relevance
4.0
Transparency
3.3
Responsibility
3.1
Popularity
3.6
Recommendation
3.6
Credibility
4.0
# Reviews
4.0
# Views
5.0
# Likes
1.0
# Emails
1.0
More
How our ratings work »

Topics

Politics
(See these related stories.)

Links Help

No links yet. Please review this story to add some!